SIJHL announces playoff format and timeline

THUNDER BAY, Ont. – The Superior International Junior Hockey League announced Thursday its playoff format and timeline for the upcoming postseason.

The first round of the SIJHL playoffs will feature a pair of best-of-five quarter-final series, which are slated to run between March 20-27.

Those match-ups will see the No. 3 seeded side taking on the No. 6 Minnesota Iron Rangers while the other series will have the No. 4 and No. 5 ranked clubs squaring off.

Meanwhile the SIJHL’s regular season title holder and the No. 2 seeded squad will earn first round byes.

Semifinal action will then see two best-of-seven affairs taking place from March 28 through April 11.

One series will see the No. 1 rated team meeting the lowest seeded club with the other two remaining clubs meeting in the other match-up.

From there the two semifinal winners will square off in the Bill Salonen Cup league championship series in another best-of-seven set that is slated to go from April 13-24.

The SIJHL champion will then join the Dryden GM Ice Dogs at the Dudley-Hewitt Cup May 1-5 at Dryden’s Memorial Arena.

Should the GM Ice Dogs repeat as league champions, then the Bill Salonen Cup finalist will also represent the SIJHL at the four-team event, which will also feature the title holders from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Ontario Junior Hockey League taking part.

The Dudley-Hewitt Cup winner will then advance to represent the Central region at the RBC Cup Canadian national Jr. A event, May 12-20 in Chilliwack, B.C.

At the RBC, the host Chilliwack Chiefs (BCHL) will go up against the Dudley-Hewitt Cup champion, the titleist from the Fred Page Cup (East) as well as the winners from both the ANAVET Cup (MJHL/SJHL) and the Doyle Cup (AJHL/BCHL).

All SIJHL playoff and Dudley-Hewitt Cup games will be streamed live online via HockeyTV.com.